Chapter 21.2: Rescuing Someone 

Annoyed, she pulled her hand back, patted off the dust from her clothes, and prepared to leave.

She had saved him; the rest was up to him.

Returning to her brothers without a care, she saw they hadn’t caught anything and found it a pity.

She, too, had been craving rabbit meat.

Plucking a handful of grass, she washed it with her spiritual spring water before placing it in Zhiwen’s trap.

Clapping the dust off her hands, she thought, There should be a rabbit caught by tomorrow.

“Hey, there’s someone over there!”

Zhiwen, with his sharp eyes, spotted the man lying on the ground.

Wanqing’s mouth twitched, and she strolled over slowly.

“Oh,” she scratched her ear, feigning surprise. “Ah, how come there’s a person here?”

“He’ll freeze to death on the mountain!”

Zhiwen and Hǔzi, both kind-hearted, couldn’t bear to leave him there and decided to carry him down the mountain.

At the entrance of Xishan Village.

The three of them were now debating where to take the man.

Hǔzi hesitated. “Not my house. If my parents find out, they’ll beat me to death. We don’t even know who he is!”

Wanqing firmly shook her head. “Not my house either. We only have a few thatched huts—barely enough for us to live in! Why should we take him in? Do I look like some saint?”

Zhiwen: … I’ll just listen to whatever my sister says.

“What’s going on?”

From a distance, Lin Heng spotted Zhiwen and Hǔzi carrying someone and hurried over, fearing something bad had happened.

“It’s nothing,” Wanqing said casually. “We found him struggling in the mountains.”

Hearing that they had merely found the man in distress, Lin Heng relaxed a little.

Hǔzi’s eyes flickered, and he suddenly turned to Lin Heng with a pitiful expression. “Uncle Lin, we’re trying to decide where to take him. He looks really pitiful.”

“Huh…” Lin Heng frowned, appearing troubled. “Is it serious?”

Seeing the situation unfold, Hǔzi suddenly started retreating.

“Uncle Lin, I just remembered—I have something to do at home. I’ll be going now. See you next time!”

In the blink of an eye, he vanished.

Wanqing stomped her foot in frustration. “Dad! You’re just letting him run off like that?”

The clueless Lin Heng blinked. “Huh?”

What do you mean huh?

It was big brother and Huzi who insisted on saving this guy, and now that Huzi had run off, what were they supposed to do with him?

“We’ll take him home for now,” Lin Heng decided. Leaving him here wasn’t an option.

“Idiot!” Wanqing huffed, kicking the ground before storming back home.

She was not getting involved in this.

When Li Shi saw Lin Heng and Zhiwen carrying an unconscious stranger into the house, she was baffled.

“Husband, who is this?”

After hearing what happened, Li Shi quickly instructed them to lay him on the heated brick bed.

She wasn’t the type to turn a blind eye to someone in need. A human life was at stake—everything else could wait.

Seeing the man’s pale face and tightly shut eyes, Li Shi hesitated. “Should we call Doctor Li to take a look?”

Wanqing wanted no part in this mess, but if the man died in their house, that would be a bigger problem. So she told Zhiwen to fetch Doctor Li.

Doctor Li arrived, thinking Li Shi had fallen ill, but was surprised to find an unfamiliar man instead.

He placed two fingers on the man’s wrist, feeling his pulse. His brows furrowed deeply. After a long moment, he finally withdrew his hand and turned to Li Shi.

“My medical skills are limited. I can’t diagnose exactly what’s wrong, but his body is filled with an intense cold… Have him take some medicine for wind chills and keep him warm.”

Doctor Li shook his head, sighing. “This illness is strange. I fear he’s had it since birth, and it may never be cured. What a wretched fate—living with this will be suffering.”

He instructed Zhiwen to come with him to fetch the medicine, so they could administer it when the man woke up.

Wanqing listened in silence, deep in thought.

That evening, Wanqing made a pot of bone broth with radish and mushrooms, stir-fried some pickled vegetables, and served each person a cornmeal-steamed bun—something she had made using wheat and corn flour.

Zhiyuan sipped his soup, his cheeks turning rosy from the warmth.

With the better meals at home, he had even started gaining some weight. His once sharp chin had softened slightly, and his skin had become fairer. At this moment, he looked undeniably adorable.

Unable to resist, Wanqing reached out and pinched his cheek. “Hmm, not bad. You’re finally putting on some weight—not eating all that food for nothing.”

“Second Sis, with meals this good every day, how could I not gain weight?” Zhiyuan, for once, didn’t complain about her touch.

“If this makes you happy, just wait until life really gets better. There’ll be even more delicious food waiting for you.” Wanqing felt they were only at the beginning of true comfort.

“Really, Sis? What else can we eat?”

Now even Zhìqīn was interested. In fact, the whole family turned their eyes toward Wanqing, curious to hear about the even better food she had in mind.

Wanqing thought of one thing—hotpot.

In winter, nothing beat a steaming pot of flavorful broth.

“Hotpot.”

“What’s that?”

“Hotpot is…”

As Wanqing explained, laughter and lively chatter filled the house.

Forgetting entirely about the unconscious man still lying on their heated bed.